


love from ashes

by mayachain



Series: 14Valentines_2019 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: 14valentines, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Post-War, Rebuilding, Sisters, from the ashes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 17:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17646884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: Narcissa seeks help from the only witch that is left to her.





	love from ashes

About a month after the Battle of Hogwarts, Narcissa is at her wits’ end. Her son won’t speak to her, won’t say anything except Vincent’s name… and this much only after waking up from yet another nightmare of flying and a never-ebbing fire.

She wishes she could talk to her husband, let Lucius take the reins and let him decide their lives as he used to. Yet although he, at least, will whisper to her about the horrors that plague him, he is not strong enough to share her burden. _Weak,_ she thinks downheartedly. Even with a new, unsullied wand, his magic has dimmed. He could almost pass for a squib these days.

In her despair, Narcissa seeks help from the only witch that is left to her. Bella is dead, killed because she never knew not to go after a mother’s child, but there’s still Andromeda. Her sister has her own pain, has lost everything that Narcissa saved by saving Harry Potter’s life – has lost her husband and daughter.

They’re the only ones left of the House of Black, now. Still, she fully expects to have the door smashed in her face when she goes to meet her. They haven’t spoken in nearly twenty years, yet it doesn’t take more than a cry - _(“I don’t know what to do!”)_ \- for her sister to usher her inside and gift her a cup of tea.

For a moment, Narcissa wonders how the other woman can trust her inside her home, but when she thinks about it, it’s not so strange a development at all. Narcissa could always manipulate Bella to believe whatever she needed, but she wouldn’t lie, now, not about her trustworthiness – she could never hope to fool Andromeda.

They talk. They drink tea. Neither weeps. They stand over the crib and behold Andromeda’s grandson. They ever-so-slightly lean against each other. They return to the kitchen. They drink more tea.

A week later, Narcissa leaves Lucius alone under the supervision of a newly acquired house-elf, grabs her startled son by the scruff of his neck, and apparates to her family’s house.

It’s a start.

 

.


End file.
